Lothar Matthäus slams Toni Kroos for lack of passion

Former Bayern Munich and Germany great Lothar Matthäus admires the skill of Real Madrid star Toni Kroos, but put the midfielder on blast for a lack of passion at the European Championships in his column for Sport Bild:

He lacked passion, fire and vertical passes. All the ball possession brings nothing, it’s nice to look at — but not effective. His low, flying balls are like his hairstyle: nice and clean. But, that takes time and life from the game. There were too many lateral passes, he drops far back — in a three-man chain, that makes no sense! At the European Championships, however, his performance was disappointing, he could not lead the team...Kroos took too little responsibility. He also lacked conviction.

Matthäus went on to imply that Kroos rates himself higher than Matthäus does, but did eventually get around to saying that he respects Kroos:

It’s nothing personal: I congratulate him on everything he has achieved at Real Madrid and in the national team. Hats off to his career and overall performance, Toni is a great, elegant player.

Whatever the case, Kroos will not be suiting up for Germany any longer as he retired last week.